The State of DOOM (2016) Multiplayer

Recently, I've picked up DOOM (2016), and as an avid and novice achievement collector, I've made it my mission to get every achievement possible... and yes, that meant getting the multiplayer achievements.

Notoriously, achievement collectors have hated every time a videogame includes multiplayer achievements as part of its gameplay. Whether this is because it sees a diminishing player base that reaches pretty much zero (in the case of Tomb Raider) or lack of support from the developers, these games have earned a title of infamy among achievement hunters. As you might have expected, DOOM (2016) is no stranger to these issues and complaints. 

As I went through getting every achievement possible for the single-player, the multiplayer achievements started creating an uncomfortable voice, reminding me of its imminence in the back of my mind. The promise of having to delve into the multiplayer wasn't letting me focus, so in order to learn more about it, I went to the guides and checked out what it all really meant and what I'd be doing.

Any amount of research into DOOM (2016)'s multiplayer will net you the same angered mob against these sorts of achievements, and rightly so — 20 of the achievements (about 37% of them) are all centred around its abandoned multiplayer. Every expansion released for the game only added multiplayer achievements, further ingraining the endless grind to get 100%.

And the kicker? Not only is it dead — meaning in order to be able to find a player base, you need to set yourself to a European server — but it also has a few well-known hackers.

So instead of gruelling over the pain that I'd have to face the multiplayer eventually, I decided that I'd do my best to give it a shot and see how bad it really was gonna be and whether it was even going to be possible to get the achievements. So I queued up for my first match and decided then and there — if I couldn't finish these achievements, then I would just surrender, finish the single-player campaign, and move on.

The first thing I'd like to note about the state of the multiplayer is that you absolutely need to queue up into European servers in order to find a round. Like an unspoken rule, it seems like North America has been all but deserted, yet all of the players hang out in Europe, and that's where you'll find matches and — best of all — full lobbies.

Of course, at the start and throughout your first few levels of gameplay, you'll find that it's difficult to fend for yourself, even in a lobby that's devoid of cheaters. With Echelon 10, Lvl 50 players (meaning level 500 in less complex terms) have been — and continue — playing and honing their skills; this means they know the best weapons, combinations, and even equipment for any given level, and it makes them incredibly difficult to fight against... but not impossible.

Chief among the reasons why starting out DOOM (2016) multiplayer feels nigh impossible is the fact that as you level up, you unlock more weapons. With obscene amounts of things to get and acquire, you don't have all of the arsenal ready, as you'll need to unlock armaments and equipment in order to create your best loadouts. At the start, you'll be killed — destroyed, even. The game modes aren't too unfamiliar to some you might encounter, but things like the Demon Rune and numerous buffs and weapons spawning can feel uncomfortable to handle and difficult to manoeuvre, but it all takes practice.

Occasionally, you'll come across a cheater: you'll recognise these from their capability to run extremely fast — faster than if they had Haste — their capability to fly, or their capability to shoot the most potent weapon with no downtime or reloading. They do exist, and some of the early hackers from even back in 2016 are still hanging around haunting the games and ruining the fun for everyone, but that doesn't mean they are omnipresent.

In fact, depending on the day and time, I found that I had full lobbies and hours of playtime where I didn't face them. When they do pop up, you'll see that players start to leave, and the multiplayer lobbies get emptied out, and chances are, you'd be better off just taking a break, too. There are players that do their best to face them, but it ruins the fun, especially as a newcomer who is trying to get used to the game and farming out what you need to in order to get the achievements.

Yes, the hackers ruin the fun and dominate lobbies with little to no effort (I encountered one that played extremely badly, but because of their infinite weapon ammo, they were pretty unbeatable), and yes, high-level players are prevalent and omnipresent in pretty much every lobby. But when you give yourself the time to learn the game or avoid the hackers altogether, it's still a surprisingly sprawling community rich with players and lobbies to enjoy.

I'm far from the best player in any lobby, and I'm far from good enough, but there are matches where I'm able to play well and stand my ground. So long as you're playing Team matches, you're bound to have some of the high-level and high-skill players in your team, and from there, it's all about learning the weapons, learning the maps, and learning the modes.

Against all odds, I've genuinely enjoyed the multiplayer in DOOM (2016), and I've found enjoyment in getting the achievements. Though it means dealing with hackers and having negative KDA an embarrassing amount of times, it is still a healthy environment to enjoy and have fun whenever there aren't hackers around. Truth be told, I've found fun in achievements I thought I'd never enjoy, and I'll cherish the time I have left to farm in order to finish all of the others.